This election cycle is the worst. The two main candidates are so transparently representative of the destructive social and economic forces that define what this country is about that it’s harder and harder to keep up all the illusions necessary to keep it running. Militarism and imperialism, the crushing power of money and banks, and a new(ish) breed of white supremacist backlash are all there screaming at us from wherever we’re getting our media fix. Elections are exhausting affairs for so many reasons and this one is taking the cake and smashing it in our faces, crumbs everywhere. It’s a coordinated attack on our senses and sensibilities.

You must hate it. Wouldn’t you like to get some revenge on this hideous beast of an election? We certainly do.

Since you probably live in or near Saint Louis you are being presented with what might be a nice ready-made gift. This city will be blessed (in a manner of speaking) as the host of a presidential debate on October 9th where both human freaks that think they can effectively represent 300+ million people will be in town, together. These white demons that have jumped out of our TVs and pasts to become the Republican and Democratic frontrunners will be gnashing their teeth on stage at Washington University, vying for your Hearts + Votes.

But what exactly are these white demons representing? You? Us? Our sisters and brothers rotting in prisons? The shareholders of those prisons and the banks that finance their construction? Our dreams and our fears? The United States (what’s that??)? It’s relative, but one certain thing is that these white demons together definitely represent how fucked we are. They’re the demons that reappear every 4 years – sometimes more firey and evil than others, but all from the same place – to sell you a load of shit that you don’t really have any choice but to keep on buying. And that shit-selling will be televised live from STL in a few weeks.

(About third party lesser white demons: America, and all it entails, including 99.99999% of electoral politics, is the greatest white demon of all, and is therefore the problem. Stop looking for saviors.)

We’d like to take this opportunity to invite anyone out on the night of the debate to come and resist the debacle however you wish. Want to cause a scene to send a message to the world of your disgust? Want to dance on Delmar Boulevard and annoy/frighten some sheltered Washington University students? Want to spray graffiti all over some gentrifying student housing? Want to rush the debate stage and shout “no no no what are these white demons doing here”? (This would be incredibly dangerous and probably impossible and we wouldn’t recommend trying it, but at least you’re thinking.) There are any number of things you could do to resist and give you a chance to live outside the conditions of this unbearably stupid election. Think about it and think on being there.

… and about being smart. Washington University, the location of the debate, will likely be heavily securitized and impossible to enter if you aren’t a student there (just imagine it becoming the pristine, fortified bubble it aspires to be). That security will probably spill out into the surrounding area, which all means that whatever you’d like to do in that area, you should do so with some smartness.

If you’re thinking that you want to stay at home so you don’t miss out on what might be an exciting train wreck on live TV, just remember that this will be the second debate so it will probably be more boring and depressing than the first one. Plus you have Youtube for any juicy bits. Meeting people and moving towards the creation of a better world is surely more satisfying than watching the worst of what this one is offering us.

So see the 9th and the debate as an opportunity to resist all these demons in your life. Celebrate and tell your friends and family, bring them along for the ride. If you’re planning something for the 9th or want to do something: publicize that shit if that’s smart, or if that’s not smart then just do it. Take all that electoral frustration and anger and desperation and do things.

On the 9th, and for any dumb debate night, take joy in resisting. Take joy in creating the new amidst all the ashes of the old.

howdy y’all …. this little bit of text here is in response to the upcoming HRC Gala that some queers are planning to perhaps crash and do other things around. this response towards the Gala won’t represent all of LGBTQdom, nor does this little ditty here represent all of the folks planning a response to the Gala. and we think that’s great.

if the HRC irritates you for whatever reason we look forward to seeing you out there on Saturday the 22nd to make that known. we love you all! and now on to the wordzzzzzzz ……

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During the Summer period of the most intense police backlash to Ferguson protestors, a letter addressed to mainstream Missouri LGBTQ organizations was publicly released. In it the anonymous writers expressed their frustration at the lack of responsiveness of Missouri LGBTQ organizations such as PROMO and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to the realities of what was happening in Ferguson and particularly the implications those events had on the lives of LGBTQ people that aren’t white. Outside of making public statements (some of which had to be coerced out of them), the silence and inaction of these organizations highlighted many long-standing criticisms of them.

Part of the criticism of the HRC stems from the fact that it positions itself as an organization that represents the whole of the LGBTQ community. When the HRC fails in this endeavor that results in all sorts of annoying, painful, and even dangerous consequences for the people it claims to represent. It’s not a simple matter of just claiming shared experience based on sexual orientation or gender expression. We’re not even sure it’s possible to represent a thing that would be as vast and diverse as an “LGBTQ community.” To that end we, just a few LGBTQ identified folks, are offering here a bit of our critique of the HRC. It’s not comprehensive, it’s not authoritative on matters of LGBTQ identity or struggle, it’s just a few things we want to get off our chests, and a few suggestions for how we might move forward …

Allies (and enemies) of LGBTQ people who are looking in from the outside could be easily forgiven for any misconception of theirs that the fight for marriage equality was an all encompassing and agreed upon struggle. The time, energy, money, and attention drawn towards the fight for marriage equality and the organizations that essentially define themselves based on that fight obliterates even the sight of other often life-and-death struggles being faced by LGBTQ people. Gone is the fight against poverty, or immigration status, or the rate of incarceration and its specific impacts on LGBTQ people, or ways to combat the horrendous violence waged against queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming bodies outside of throwing more people into the prison system forever. All these distinctions are swept away and in their place you have the branding of the HRC with its blue and yellow equality sign, though equality for whom and by what means is all up for question.

Months on since the death of Mike Brown everyone in Saint Louis is nervously anticipating the grand jury decision on whether to indict his killer and the city is poised to explode into all manner of activity. In the midst of all the planning and discussion surrounding the grand jury decision, the HRC is preparing for its annual black tie Gala event. At a base cost of $225 a ticket (and however much your wardrobe will cost … gotta look sharp and evidently perfectly gender-conforming judging from the publicity photos generated from these affairs) you get access to dinner, a Wells Fargo sponsored after party, and a lineup of speakers that will culminate in whichever politician can strategically be roped in to ideally make both themselves and the HRC look good. For instance in 2012, the last time a group of people disrupted the Gala, the main speaker was Jay Nixon, the man now helping to organize a police and military effort designed to shut down and silence any protest or rage that doesn’t fall well within the lines of what is considered acceptable by a dominant, white supremacist society.

Class divisions play out in the LGBTQ community as the lack of action by moderate LGBTQ groups around Mike Brown’s murder shows. This blindness is especially devastating for trans people of color, who are among the most marginalized and oppressed in our society. Transgender people who are able to get a job often work in precarious, low paying jobs in the service industry, jobs where they are not visible to corporate clients, or in criminalized sectors of the economy like the sex and drug trades. This situation is made even worse in states like Missouri where LGBTQ persons can legally be fired and denied housing because of their identity. For same-sex couples, they are significantly more likely to be poor than heterosexual couples and are more likely to receive public assistance from government programs intended to support poor and low-income individuals and families.

Groups like the HRC have focused on campaigns that do not ultimately challenge the fundamental causes of LGBTQ oppression, often failing to meet the needs of the majority of LGBTQ people who face constant economic exploitation and oppression. This leads the HRC to have to moderate their demands to fit within the traditional social order and what was acceptable to the Democratic Party and the party’s corporate backers. The HRC, which it should be reminded stands for Human Rights Campaign, very recently released the results for its annual Municipal Equality Index for which Saint Louis again earned a perfect score. The idea that any concept of perfect equality exists within this city is as farcical as the name of the HRC and much of its history since its inception.

But, whether you knew it or not already, all of what was written above, outside of the particularities about Ferguson and Mike Brown, has been written about and discussed time and time and time again. The problems of identifying an LGBTQ community, let alone representing it, come up continuously and are only intensified and laid painfully bare during these immediate crises brought on by the death of Mike Brown, Kajieme Powell, and VonDerrit Myers. The crises faced in people’s every day life within an intolerable police state where power is reserved for those that can most dole out the cash for it are, sadly, often not enough to seriously draw attention to the obvious fractures within the LGBTQ community. And when the HRC, who claims to represent this entire dysfunctional family, throws its annual Gala that most of us couldn’t even think of comfortably attending in the midst of the grand jury fervor, then these fractures become so stark and obvious that they have to be addressed openly.

This process of coming to grips with all these issues has thankfully already begun in Saint Louis. Weeks ago LGBTQ folks met at Blank Space to discuss the shared economic exploitation and police and state violence facing both the LGBTQ and black and brown communities. People shared their concerns of how people of color, trans, disabled and working class folks’ concerns are forgotten by moderate LGBTQ organizations. A Queer and Trans Persons of Color (QTPOC) group has reemerged to provide a necessary and safer space for people that desire to meet and share experiences. Greater numbers of people are now actively and openly engaged in the work of how their identities and communities interact and change. And despite the ridiculous practice of some claiming that certain identities don’t matter or that you somehow don’t see the color of someone’s skin, all identities and all lives do in fact matter.

In the wake of months of clearly visible pain, conflict, crisis, and confusion there have been many opportunities for dialogue and action to respond to and process what has happened. Part of this process has involved identifying institutions we know that have failed to live up to their promises, and for the LGBTQ community we identify the HRC as one such institution. We invite those that identify LGBTQ or their allies to come join us downtown at the Gala location to represent yourselves and your identities instead of having an organization like the HRC do so for you. We hope this will be a step towards meeting one another and understanding where organizations like the HRC have failed to properly represent us, what our community actually is, what our community actually needs, and how can we meet these needs together.

Based on our past and many current experiences we suspect that people who are most interested in not challenging the concept of LGBTQ community will be the most outspoken that challenging institutions like the HRC is counterproductive or divisive. Since the events in Ferguson we have seen so many beautiful examples of people coming together to respond to crisis, even just among people who identify as LGBTQ. Claims that grappling with the deep-seated racial issues that plague our city and the LGBTQ community are somehow divisive misses the point and, more importantly, it misses the opportunity to actually bridge those real divides.

Visibility, even when it comes in the form of a very problematic blue and yellow equals sign, a corporate brand, can be crucially helpful for people fighting against isolation. In a world that still too often brings violence down upon trans and queer bodies with impunity it is vital to know that you’re not alone. But we have to always be conscious of who we are leaving behind when so much of our communities our bound up in large organizations that are not accountable to our needs. We have to be able to make ourselves visible, and not allow our struggles to be limited by single-issue campaigns, non-profit corporate branding, or for our voices to be silenced by some of the most vile and outright racism this city has seen in a long while.

Please join us downtown on Saturday the 22nd at 5:30 PM outside the Hilton. We can fight so every Mike Brown has a future. We can fight so everyone can get married, or rid the world of the institution of marriage, or do both at the same time. We can fight alongside all those who want to create loving and fostering community together towards a world where we understand our common well being will only be achieved when all are free.

From our vantage point, it was clear that many in the large ballroom were unaware of the 10 protesters shouting during Mayor Francis Slay’s reading of his Mayoral Proclamation. The disruption lasted a minute, maybe two, before the group (some of who had registered as HRC volunteers) were escorted from the ballroom.

The HRC Gala resumed without incident and Vital VOICE remains honored at the Equality in Media Award we received that night. Still, word of the protest was widely discussed on Facebook and Twitter and we have received calls and emails inquiring about the goings on Sept. 22. Earlier today, Vital VOICE received the following opinion editorial from the protesters explaining their actions. After careful consideration, we have decided to publish the piece. Since 2000, our charge remains to not just give voice to the majority opinion – but myriad points of view.

The views stated in the following op. ed. are those of the writers alone and not of Vital VOICE or its staff:

“You don’t understand what we’re doing. We’re raising money for marriage equality here,” said a frustrated Bill Donius, as we were escorted out of the Hyatt on Saturday night after disrupting the Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala. But Bill, we understand exactly what you are doing, and we profoundly disagree. The pursuit of money has warped the Human Rights Campaign’s values, rendering it an organization not only counterproductive to pursuing true queer liberation, but also an untrustworthy ally in progressive circles.

First, let’s talk about all that money. A lot of it was raised on Saturday evening—perhaps upwards of six figures. But where did it go? Did it go to support the great work of local organizations in Missouri, many of whom are making impressive progress on furthering equality at the municipal and state levels? Nope. It went into the hands of a fundraising colossus in DC that equates checkbook activism with substantive progress.

Second, let’s talk about HRC’s sordid policy history. Some of us still remember when the HRC publicly offered to support privatization of Social Security in exchange for recognition of same-sex partner benefits. Or when HRC sold out the rest of the LGBTQ groups around the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) by, um, omitting the T. That’s right, they forgot about trans equality. HRC has said nothing about CeCe McDonald, an incarcerated trans victim of a hate crime still in prison for defending herself. Oh, and remember when Attorney General Nixon, as a cynical ploy, was the only Democratic Attorneys General to file an amicus brief opposing marriage equality in California? Why, that was the last time he ran for election—2008. It seems like a group that cared about marriage equality would not let the same guy (who still opposes marriage equality) speak at their 20th anniversary gala.

HRC’s pandering to power and money is not confined to the distant past. In a stunningly cynical move, at the height of Occupy and the apex of awareness of income inequality and what the banking system had done to destroy our economy, HRC chose to honor Goldman Sachs at their annual banquet in New York City. Goldman Sachs was feeling the heat and looking for political cover and HRC was more than happy to provide it, and pick up the largesse it entailed.

But enough of money, what about marriage? We learned in school that 60% was a passing grade, but fewer than 60% of marriages make it through to their desired goal of a lifetime? Is it possible that we are not hard-wired for marriage? That maybe our desire to chase contemporary heteronormative mores has gotten in the way of our opportunity to use this moment in time to push for the world in which we want to live? We have the opportunity to determine how we want our relationships to be recognized, to blur the arbitrary distinctions among the various labels—friends, partners, family. We could each have the opportunity to choose how to live, and yet HRC wants to put us all in the same box. Either we choose lives of compulsory monogamy or we are immoral and undeserving of rights—seems like another problematic and counter-liberative dichotomy to us.

Over the last few years, the right to serve in the military and the right to marriage more and more are revealed to be insufficient demands to realize the society we want to create. If we really want to change society, we need to ask bigger, more difficult questions that lead to bigger, often more difficult to win demands.

Why do we have as large a military as we do in the first place? Why do we bother to invade and occupy other countries? We know the reason to have non-discrimination in the armed services is because so many urban and rural poor people join. Often, they don’t join because they have always wanted to serve, but because the military is our nation’s largest jobs program. The military should not be the best choice available to people. Instead of focusing on the few things privileged LG individuals are not allowed to do change the world where all people, LGBTQ included, are allowed to thrive.

And of course, we are squandering a wonderful opportunity to build bridges with zero-to moderate-income people who do not identify as queer but could use a wider array of benefits. By pushing for a more robust version of relationship recognition, two women who are raising children together because of financial reasons, or those who are caretakers for extended family, or any other of a myriad of ways in which lower income people live their lives could be improved if we were to push for a more inclusive definition of relationship.

We will not sit by and allow an out-of-touch organization speak for communities that it does not know or understand. We will continue to take public action, calling to task those organizations whose behavior and values do not align with what we feel is appropriate in our community. But we are also open to dialogue as well. Get in touch with us if you’d like to stop begging politicians for marriage, and instead begin to address the many other forms of inequality that less privileged queers face. You might know one or more of us, so give us a call or send an email. Or email our group at justsomequeers@gmail.com.

We’ll be having a follow-up conversation about the reasons for the whole HRC Gala disruption and on what a queer and just society should strive for. We hope you can join us on Wednesday, October 10th at 7 PM at The LGBTQ Center of St. Louis (4337 Manchester). We look forward to practicing solidarity with everyone in our quest for a queerer and more equal world.

By JUST SOME QUEERS

[Editor’s note]: National Human Rights Campaign Board Member and St. Louis native Bill Donius, who was quoted in the above op. ed., issued the following statement:

“For the record, I want to clarify what I stated to the protestors. I said nothing about marriage or the dinner event. I simply said I thought they failed in communicating their message on two counts: no one heard what they were saying and interrupting an event was not an appropriate way to express their point of view. I happened to be standing next to my table and where they entered the room. The HRC Team in STL would be happy to sit down with them to better understand their concerns and have a meaningful conversation.”

Howdy. Some queers and friendz went out today to give a little needed perspective on one of the now greatest farces of the environmental struggle: Earth Day. In anticipation of some head-scratching we offer up this …

Earth Day future FAQ!!!!: Why target Earth Day of all days?
Taking care of and protecting the earth and all that depend on it is serious business. If you’re going to be serious then get serious. Most “Earth Day Celebrations” are pretty sad events that try to make people feel good about being totally ineffectual at actually protecting the environment. We can’t buy our way out of environmental crises. Putting on your Sunday best to go lobby some too-powerful idiots in dysfunctional and structurally rotten governments won’t do either.

What’s wrong with buying a cool hybrid car or some green dog shampoo or eating Chipotle?
We live in a country that values economic growth above all else because we think that’s what makes everything wonderful for some reason. This planet can’t sustain such dumb ideas and we can’t let cars and burritos distract us from more important issues.

Why don’t you offer up solutions instead of just complaining?
If as a society we can’t even be clear and honest about the root cause of the problems we’re facing, then we as a society will come up with awful non-solutions that will at best be worthless and at worst be extremely harmful.

Well the 2014 midterm elections are just around the corner, you’d be better off doing something towards that wouldn’t you?
We predict, on the whole, that the world and its living inhabitants would give out a never-ending standing ovation if every politician took our advice in walking into the ocean and never returning.

Why can’t you be practical?
Practicality is in the eye of the beholder.

You want us to all be using a horse and buggy?
We want you to have an imagination first.

You all are just a bunch of whiny, privileged turds with nothing better to do! Why don’t you leave Earth Day alone?!
(click to enlarge this screengrab, which functions as our response)

CAUTION: DO NOT BATHE YOUR DOG IN NATURAL GAS OR FRACKING FLUIDS

For more information and ways to get involved with others check out these Earth Day-Sponsors-That-We-Think-Are-Shitty-specific links (or you can just start up your own cool projects. you can do what you want and you can do a lot!):

It has come to our attention that people have taken an interest in some superbly put together and well-edited fliers that have appeared in The Grove. We’re delighted that you all have taken note. For any of you that scream out that such actions are horrible and ineffectual please know how thankful we are for your outbursts as they help us get the word out on these important matters. Let this be a lesson for those that want to know of one method to initiate a conversation.

It is interesting watching the reactions to removing the posters. Clearly some people are quite happy with the posters being there, and clearly some people don’t care in the slightest about the legality or matters of property or what have you. (It should be noted that nearly every poster that we can think of was placed on public property, dumpsters, or currently vacant buildings. But don’t let that distract from the worship of property.)

To the people leading the charge to “clean” The Grove this Saturday, that sounds great if you want to do that. But don’t fool yourselves into thinking your actions speak on behalf of or are to the benefit of the LGBT community, whatever that is. It is obvious that there is a diversity of opinion among queers, and we simply wanted to bring up some matters that often don’t get enough attention. We don’t think that Monsanto or the US military would provide us with the platform or the funding to tell them to go fuck themselves, especially not for a whole weekend.

Maybe some of the folks that put up the posters will even be in your midst while you clean up all that filth. You may even know the wanton criminals responsible! They may even … be … right … behind you! The enemies of capital and normality and assimilation are everywhere. You might be one yourself and not even know it.

To everyone else take heart that throughout the weekend of Pride there were at least 6 independent actions that we are aware of that took place in response to or parallel to Pride, Inc.’s events. We have no idea who did many of these things, and that’s the exciting point.

You don’t need a non-profit or a board of directors or a clever group name or any of that to do things. Just do them. Non-profits aren’t going to save the world from poverty or crime or environmental disaster, and you sure as hell should not be waiting for them to do so. And don’t even get us started on elected officials.

For those that are particularly savvy I’m sure you can find people to talk about these matters. You may even be able to dig up an email. While it certainly wouldn’t make any sense for us to organize an event to further discussion on these matters (what with the quasi lynch mob [sorry … a poor choice of words. firing squad? angry Facebook mob? … well you get the point] that has sprung up), we think it would be very interesting and pertinent for someone else to maybe organize a discussion on assimilation in the post-DOMA world. Clearly there’s some interest.

If there is anything that we can all be united in after this ordeal is that yes you should be diligent about spell-checking. Live and learn.

Oh and FYI here is the complete text of the haikus:

Ta,

Some Queers

P.S. Concerning the proper channels and ways to go about getting your message out, we agree in part that adherence to well-established practices is good form and so here is a workable recipe for wheat paste that we think you may find useful: instructables.com/id/wheatpaste

P.P.S. We actually have quite a lot of love in our lives and adore so much in this world and so many. We’ve adored many of your comments for instance, reading them to our lovers, naked in bed.

last saturday, some queers interrupted the hrc’s 20th anniversary gala. here’s an article that appeared on the vital voice website explaining why we did so.

we’ll be having a follow-up conversation about the reasons for the hrc gala disruption and on what a queer and just society should strive for. join us on wednesday, october 10th at 7pm at the lgbt center of st. louis (4337 manchester)!